Patriots Qualify for Nationals With Third Place Finish at PAISWT

MALVERN — Before the season even started, Germantown Academy Head Coach Solomon Fleckman said that the most important match for the team would come at Prep Nationals. With the season winding down, it is almost time to see how the Patriots perform at that meet. First, however, they had to compete at the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Wrestling Tournament.

Germantown Academy finished third overall at the tournament with a score of 132.5. The result qualifies GA for Prep Nationals as teams that finished sixth or better are able to advance.

Christopher Kim ’20 led the way for all GA wrestlers, taking first in the 106 weight class. The first place finish by Kim is the first of its kind by a Patriot since 2015.

“Chris did a wonderful job throughout the tournament mentally, technically and tactically,” Fleckman said in an email. “He is wrestling well and is absolutely prepared to shine next weekend at the Nationals.”

All of those athletes will be going to Nationals at Lehigh on Feb. 23. The team is waiting to find out if Andrew Sandifer ’18 will qualify via a wildcard berth. Sandifer placed seventh in his weight class at PAISWT.

“By and large, we achieved what we set out to achieve this weekend,” Fleckman said in an email. “It was nice to get a Germantown Academy wrestler back up on the top step of the podium, and we managed to qualify at least one more wrestler for the Nationals than we did last year… All that said, everyone on the team and close to our program knows full well that our final exam is next weekend at National Preps—what we do there will be the defining metric for the 2017-18 season. Our kids were dialed in and fighting hard, but it was clear that every single guy on the team had the sense that this weekend was merely a pit stop on our way to the finish line.”